Does this look like a bad role model to you? A pro-obesity campaign?

WHY are we suddenly lavishing love on the larger ladies given that half of all Australians are overweight, and one-fifth of us are morbidly obese?

Surely heavy models are no better examples for young girls than super-skinny models? But in what is hailed as a breakthrough for "normal" females, big women are the latest fashion craze. Indeed, this month's Fashion Week abandoned the usual stick insects for some models who were size 14-18.

It was a breakthrough to see fashion shows using not just ridiculously skinny models that make thin women feel fat. But was it really a breakthrough for good health?

Let's be honest.

While these women might make us feel better about our bulging butts and guts, the truth is, few women over a size 14 are in a healthy weight range. And many need encouragement to lose weight instead of being told to feel good about being overweight. Seeing big girls might give us healthier self-esteem, but it might not encourage us to lead healthier lives. [Does any woman REALLY need help to feel worse about herself? Is any woman REALLY going to go scoff a packet of biscuits after seeing an image of a larger model?]

Don't get me wrong, I don't think all models should look like Posh Spice on a diet. Most of the women on catwalks are freaks of nature and it is only right that the pendulum is swinging towards more achievable bodies. As a chick who's 157cm in high heels, I'd like to see shorter women on catwalks, as well as women who are curvier and have bums and boobs. [The only trouble is that you can't choose where your weight goes – many healthy women have droopy tummies and flabby arms and back fat. We do. Does that mean we're unhealthy? No.]

But there is a limit. I know it's not fashionable to say this, but some of the women being embraced as positive role models and ambassadors for larger people are obese and should lose weight for health reasons. [Who? Who are these women you refer to?]

As well as the runway shows in Australia there's Drop Dead Diva, which follows the life of a larger lawyer who's a skinny model reincarnated. And, reflecting the expanding girth of many Australians, more and more retailers, such as Myer, Sportsgirl and even Ed Hardy, are jumping on the bandwagon, and offering larger sizes.

But this is not necessarily a good thing.

Yes, larger teens deserve to be able to wear fashionable clothes, like everyone else. But the discourse of self-empowerment surrounding the move is stopping us asking why so many young people are size 16 or more in the first place. Sure, such moves reflect the reality of a rapidly growing population, but they also serve to normalise a size that is not healthy for most young people. [I really don't think we're at any risk of normalising larger sizes. Most women over a size 10 feel abnormal on a daily basis]

….there are also many larger people who are just plain fat, and who
would be better off being encouraged to lose weight rather than always
be told it's okay to be overweight.

Losing weight is hard work. It takes sacrifice and effort. As a
mother of three in my late 30s with a new gym membership, I know this
first-hand. It's much easier to accept the pro-fat manifesto than hit the treadmill. Interestingly, this trend has come at a time when the Federal
Government is looking at a range of anti-obesity measures, including a
tax on fast food. [How insulting to claim that the occasional appearance of women such as Laura Wells are part of some 'pro-fat manifesto'! How about they're just beautiful women!]

So it just doesn't make any sense to also be sending the message
that it's not only OK to be fat, it's a sign of self-empowerment.[No, that's where you're wrong. The empowering part is that you don't necessarily have to look like Miranda Kerr to be considered beautiful or sexy.]

Let's face it, Australians — like Americans — do not need any
encouragement or permission from role models in the media to put on
weight.  [Oh please. Does seeing Magda Szubanski or Laura Wells make me go out and eat a packet of biscuits? That's insulting too….]

Alarmingly, a new Australian study of more than 30,000 people shows
obese and morbidly obese men are less depressed and less suicidal than
those of a normal weight. The experts concluded that fat could no longer be seen as a cause of
depression, and in fact may be "protective" for some people.

But it's time to get real — fat people may be happier but they're
also digging their graves with a fork, and we're all paying for it. [This tenuous attempt to draw a connection between the miniscule number of non-size 8 bodies we see in the media that account for perhaps 0.00001% of the images of women we're exposed to on a daily basis, and the obesity crisis is absurd and nonsensical.]

I don't want to just see the latest fashions on models who have to run around in the shower to get wet. But at the same time we should not openly embrace the move towards bigger women who may not be healthy.